Yes, I buy jewellery too!

Now you may think that as someone who makes jewellery, I could have all I could possibly want and wouldn’t buy someone else’s jewellery .... well, WRONG!

Most artisans tend to specialise in a few different mediums and so when they find something that they don’t have the specialist knowledge of but greatly admire it (to the point of salivating LOL) then they can either teach themselves how to make something like it after months of practice, or they do what I do and just buy it!

Since I’ve been making jewellery I have specialised in gems and pearls.  Gems because they’re what I studied all those years ago when I did my Diploma of Gemmology.  I feel an affinity for them and my knowledge on formation and structure helps me to appreciate them even more.  I’ve always had a “thing” for pearls and as a organic gem, I love them too. 

However my knowledge of metalsmithing is limited.  I often make clasps and components for necklaces and earrings, but I’ve never practiced filigree, fine piercing, stone setting and so on, as my emphasis has always been about the gems in a piece, rather than the metal that may surround them – in fact many of my pieces have only a sprinkling of silver, goldfill or carat gold.

There are many artisans out there who are far more skilled in those areas and sometimes I just can’t resist owning some of these little works of art!

I often look in jewellery store windows and I’m afraid most don’t excite me as most is production jewellery, rather than artisan made.  But when I was in Venice last year, I found a number of wonderful establishments with truly stunning jewellery.

Most of these  were near the Piazza San Marco but we found one on our side of the Grand Canal, in San Polo.   While exploring and getting lost (I read that it’s one thing you HAVE to do if you go to Venice, is to let yourself get lost and it’s not that hard to achieve!) in the little byways of San Polo, we stumbled upon it -  2 big windows literally stuffed with jewels!   They were so ”me” – multistrands of scintillating fine gems, big sparkly gemstone pendants, ropes of pearls and more.   I had to be dragged away from the shop by the children, but one daughter took some photos of the windows – and here is me , just in the photo, peering at the wonderful pieces.

 Now a large majority of these pieces I could make myself (of course affording the gems in the first place might be a slight problem in achieving this aim), but I also saw a ring.  Not flashy, but different. There was no gem,  it was the design – one that gave me the impression of columns  - and after seeing all the fabulous old buildings throughout Italy this resonated with me.  I knew I'd never have the patience to make something like it.  However I resisted going in and trying it on, or even enquiring about the price.  

The next day an old schoolfriend of my husband, and his wife, had arranged to meet us for a few hours.  The wife had grown up, would you believe it, two hours drive from where we live in the central tablelands of NSW, although she looked very comfortable in her Venetian surroundings, and speaking fluent Italian.   As someone who rarely gets to a shop most of the time, I’m always up for more shopping, and so she and I wandered off window shopping. ( OK, it wasn’t  JUST “window” shopping!)   I told her about the fabulous jewellery store I had seen the day before and before I knew it, there we were!   She found a pair of earrings she loved which she bought.  I kept looking at the ring but still resisted.  

That night I tossed and turned, thinking about the ring.  Could I find my way back there?  Would we have time, before we left?   In the  morning, there was no time.  With the notoriously late opening times (given they stay open so late at night), plus with packing,  I just couldn’t imagine 5 of us dragging our suitcases with their little wheels over the bumpy paths when I wasn’t 100% how to get there.   “Oh well”, I sighed, "maybe it wasn’t meant to be".

But it was!

I repeatedly mentioned the ring to my husband as one of those “should have” moments.   After a few months, he asked if I knew the name of the store etc., and perhaps he could get the friend we had met who visited Venice regularly to get it for me.  Jumping on this possibility, I gave him all the information I could – my ring size, what it looked like from memory and so on.  

And last week it arrived ….  It took a few months since we discussed it and over a year since I’d seen it, but I’m thrilled.   

So you see, every girl needs to buy jewellery sometimes – even those of us who make it!

Oh, and if you're ever in Venice, go and see the store... Ganesha on the Ruga Rialto, San Polo.

Shows, an Airshow and now its almost holiday time!

I’ve been a very bad blogger. I’ll admit it. I’ve been going along at a 110% (which we all know is totally unsustainable) so things started to drop off. I miss being online. I feel like I’m falling behind by not keeping up to date in my fellow blogger’s worlds!

And just to compound my discomfort offline, I am off on our annual holiday in a couple of days time. YAY for the holiday – lots of reading, lazing around, beach walks, bike rides and family time. But BOO to no internet coverage!

Since I last wrote I’ve had two, two-day shows. Quirindi was the first. The show was great fun and many husbands said “oh no, not you!” but their wives smiled widely :D . The second show was at Merriwa with gorgeous weather, lots of familiar faces and ladies keen to look at and partake of the new collection. It’s so lovely to be welcomed by the ladies so warmly!

Country shows are great fun and as I’m situated in the ladies pavilion, I get to see all the local talent – the green fingered ladies with their flowers, the cooks with their cakes and preserves, the patient ladies with their needlework, embroidery, sewing and knitting, the artists with their paintings and sculpture, the budding younger artists with their drawings and the avid photographers with their creative photos. It’s always great to see the men having a go too – Merriwa always has a brave gent or two competing in the cooking arena and lots of them in the fresh produce department.

Naturally there are the horse events, cattle judging, pet parades and more. Merriwa had a ute muster and with all their big lights and myriad of aerials, I assume these young fellows are very lonely and scared of the dark! They also had a roving magician as part of the entertainment and I had my own private little show at one stage with some incredibly good card ‘tricks’ – a polished performance, I still have no idea how he did it.

We finished the weekend off with a visit to the RAAF Williamtown Airshow. The last one we attended there was in 1985 and when I told this to one young airman he made me feel incredibly old when he told me he hadn’t even been born then!

The show was quite spectacular, starting off with Matt Hall, of Red Bull Air Race fame; two incredible formation flights of aeroplanes from different eras (the poor old Neptune at the front must have been going flat out compared to the F111 in the same flight!); the last public performance from a F111 that was awe inspiring and made everyone jump when he sneaked up on us all; and a fantastic solo by an F-18 that showed so much skill and control in such a powerful machine. Of course there were many more air displays that we all enjoyed but the ones above were amazing! All in all a fantastic day, although it was soooo long with a three hour drive each way added on to a full day at the show. Truly memorable though and worth it.

So, please forgive my absence, including one for the next couple of weeks. But I promise I will think of you while I’m walking along the beach, playing games with the kids, reading a huge pile of novels and snoozing regularly … well, maybe a passing thought now and again ;)

Till next
Annette

PS. Today’s pic – this one found a new home last weekend - from my Beach Party Collection, it’s fun and bright mother of pearl shell, sterling silver and freshwater cultured pearls.

Spring jewellery, shopping and entertaining!

Can you believe it’s spring! We’ve had a couple of beautiful warm days when the when the jumper came off, leaving me in a short sleeved shirt and all the doors in the house were open with a lovely warm breeze flowing through. Bliss. Then the next day it turned Cold (with a capital ‘C’!) and then the rain started. Again. Now as I’m married to a farmer, I can’t complain about the rain at all – but it’s staggering how much we’ve had this year in comparison to the last decade! I’ve even slid sideways down my dirt road to the front gate. Please imagine a look of intense concentration as this was happening LOL. Luckily it dries out fast so we're back to cool but sunny weather and driving down the track is just fine!

I’ve been incredibly busy on the jewellery front thus my absence from the blogging world. I’ve finished the spring-summer collection and have been loading it onto the website, so if anyone was checking in on the site, there’s been lots of new things to look at every day. I’m close to finishing now, just in time for my first spring outing at Quirindi Show this weekend on 11 and 12 September. The following week is Merriwa Show on 17-18 September – so a very busy fortnight in store.

Apart from jewellery I’ve also been a ‘gardening fairy’! I was the recipient of this gardening goodness recently having three wonderful girls come and help me prune roses, weed and plant white agapanthus at the front of the house (which has been kept very bare due to the lack of my gardening talent).

Last week it was time to return the favour – three of us attacked one of the other girl’s gardens, digging up and planting a huge circle of agapanthus (purple this time!), pruning lavender and chopping down and removing the debris from four large (15 foot high) shrubs. We did have her husband’s help with the chopping down part though! It’s amazing how much work you can get done in a few hours with a few of you. Another stint as a garden fairy in a couple of week’s time – the rush is on now spring is here.

We had the pleasure of a wonderful lunch with friends on the weekend. It's been so long since we entertained, I had forgotten what a great time we have getting together. I'm almost considering hosting a Christmas or New Years party, but well, we'll see about that when it all gets a bit closer.

I've also enjoyed the pleasure of quite a bit of online shopping in the past week. With both a beach holiday and wedding to attend in the near future and a lack of suitable clothes available in town (I looked!), I took the plunge and must say I'm happy with my purchases. I can see why people love to buy from me too - the buzz when the mailman delivers and then finally trying the goodies on that you were trying to picture and measure if they'd be right is immensely satisfying!!! And all without going to town. It's times like that when it hits home how the WWW has changed our lifestyle.

Today's pic is from the new Under the Sea range, with soothing colours reminiscent of the seashore or with corals and pearls from a mermaid's treasure box! This necklace is made with faceted aqua amazonite and lots of sterling silver - perfect to make a summer statement!

Moods and Creativity

I've had a lovely couple of days working on my spring/summer collection. In fact I have the whole week scheduled for nothing else!

Monday I was into the turquoise blues as it was a sunny, bright day. But Tuesday it was raining most of the day - everything was soggy and with the low clouds things were dim. But I put myself in mind of spring rain rather than winter rain and ended up working with the wonderful watery-looking stone, aquamarine. A sneak peak at one of the pieces above!

It's funny how your mood/surroundings will be reflected in what you create. Monday I was trying to get things done in between unexpected visitors, telephone calls and housework. The clear skies and warm breeze did lift my mood (luckily!) from harried to 'getting the job done'. The pieces I created when I eventually got to my bench were consequently also more 'energetic'. Easy to wear, eye catching, low maintenance - I could see people throwing them on as they rushed out the door for a busy day - not thinking about them until it was time for bed after another busy day.

Yesterday, however, with the wet weather settled in, I enjoyed the peace of the constant thrumming of rain on the roof and enjoyed the calm in my quiet, warm studio. When the rain started during the night I started to think about a particular aquamarine strand that had been sitting, patiently waiting for me to have some inspiration about it. I sat down with it in the morning and it all came together beautifully (I just love it when that happens!) Looking back at the day's work, the designs from yesterday are serene and unfussy - someone will put them on with care and thoroughly enjoy them.

I wonder what today will bring?

Can you believe we're well into August already? That means spring is just a couple of weeks away! And now we're well into the second half of the year many people I know have started to do things for Christmas. One girlfriend, incredibly, has already FINISHED her gift buying!!! Incredible. Monique from Your Cheeky Monkey has started on her Christmas crafts. Even I have not been immune - I have already designed and received my Christmas postcards! Considering I left it till the last minute last year and paid a premium for the rush job, I must have learned my lesson! Have you started thinking about the "C" word yet, or are you already in denial?

Till next :)
Annette

Inspiration and Music

Spring is in the air again today with bright blue skies, a light breeze and warm sunshine. Of course, this follows some miserably cold days, wet days and even minor local flooding! I'm again working on my spring/summer collection inspired by the warmth and finding myself drawn to bright, bold colours - pink, blue and purple, citrus colours with saffron yellow and lime and lovely bright and rich reds. Of course, gems DO limit my ability to work with bright colours as they're not really found that way in nature. But I have some plans with one of my favourite stones - icy clear rock crystal quartz which should cool down the hottest summer day!

It IS hard to get inspired though at times and I find a little escape can be great for kicking the inspiration into gear - a drive outside your immediate environs (as I did for the show in Scone last weekend) can be great. I saw countryside, rich in varied shades of green and brown - the paddocks with bright green oat and wheat crops, rich chocolate soil laying fallow, light brown paddocks of old native grasses. Add to that the rushing, turbulent brown creeks after the recent rain and the fresh green grassy banks next to the creeks. It gives you a fresh perspective, as Michelle mentioned recently on her blog.

If you're stuck and can't get out and about though, I also find a good book where you can escape into a different life; a movie where you can live vicariously through the storyline and even music can inject some lift into your step!

Speaking of music, I'm a fan of classical, jazz and the standards as a rule, however I find I'm getting more and more drawn to what I term 'light classical' or 'contemporary classical'. My children's piano teacher describes this sort of music as desert, whereas true classical is the main course! Since I've always had a bit of sweet tooth, this analogy is probably pretty right :)

If you'd like to try out some contemporary classical, do have a listen to
*Ludovico Eindaudi, a classically trained pianist from Italy who is very popular in Europe and the UK for his compositions and concerts. I love his CD "Echoes - The Einaudi Collection" which has a great selection of his work - I find the songs quite uplifting.
*Yiruma, also a classically trained pianist from Korea. His work is quite well known, even if you don't think you know of him, as he has written scores for films. My favourite CD of Yiruma's is "First Love" - just gorgeous music to listen and relax to.

OK, so now I've set you up for listening to some beautiful music, I'd better tell you about today's pic :) This bracelet found a new home in the Scone district ... along with its matching necklace and earrings. Mother of pearl shell in a gorgeous soft mid-blue with sterling silver balls and faceted iolite gems.

Till next :)
Annette

Term break stresses, gem snippets and a pretty fluorite necklace

The children are driving me crazy. Can I sincerely request that the teachers cease their holidaying and open the school doors so I can get some peace and quiet? My children don't know the meaning of those words, it's all about noise, noise and more noise! I even had to shush them when we were walking down the street in town the other day. They were talking so loud it was almost as if they were yelling! Ah well, at least school is back next week, so I'll just continue stoically on (I wish!) in the meantime.

I attended the new Mudgee Upmarket at the Fairview Artspace last weekend. The weather was absolutely miserable with a heavy drizzle most of the day so the gallery owner brought us all inside - I was in the entry/coffee shop (yes it smelled of great coffee all day long!) along with a sculptor displaying her 'ladies'. The rest of the artisans were scattered throughout gallery rooms, wide hallways and verandahs. There was a steady stream of people that came regardless of the weather and lots of visitors from Sydney and interstate.

When I've not been the taxi service or peacemaker with the children this past week, I've been busy finishing orders, so there is not much new in the wild flights of fancy department a.k.a. my bench! But I have seen some fascinating gemstone trivia - well, trivia might even be too grand a word, lets just use 'snippets':

New York, the city that never sleeps, has introduced gemstone facials. One spa has a preference for amethyst - that pretty purple variety of quartz - which they use as a serum, eye cream and powder. They say it reduces skin inflammation and radiates infrared rays in order to stimulate healthy cell growth. The skin is supposed to be instantly firmer and brighter and all at a mere $275USD.

Another spa uses emeralds, rubies, sapphire, citrine, and gold. Emeralds are used to correct skin tone imperfections; rubies and gold are supposed to hydrate and smooth; citrine is supposed to plump lips; and sapphire is supposed to lift. The treatment supposedly leaves a shimmer on your skin and also runs at $275USD.

Yet another spa recommends their exfoliating paste of pearls - apparently to prevent dark spots on the skin by slowing down the growth of melanin. Compared to the others this treatment is a bargain at only $120USD!

So, okay, you don't want gems pulverised and put on your face (Wise woman. Much better to wear them!) But perhaps you might like to visit a house in Texas that reportedly has a turquoise kitchen sink!?

OK, enough with the truly reported, but rather silly state of gem news ;)

Today's photo is of a newish necklace (made a couple of weeks ago) and it gathered many lovely comments at Mudgee last weekend. Little fluorite cubes in green and purple shades and lots of sterling silver.

Till next :)
Annette

A winter's day of sunshine and cooking

It's another gorgeous winter day here on the Great Dividing Range. There are bright blue skies, not a breath of wind, but the air is bracing and there was a big frost this morning. The type of day when you just want to sit outside and soak up the warm sunshine and read a book (which is exactly where I'm going after this post!!) I hope you're having lovely weather where ever in the world you are too!

Thanks to everyone for the wishes on the show and the hints on surviving outdoor venues. Unfortunately it wasn't as successful as I would have liked - poor positioning meant no-one had reason to come near the traders area, unless they specifically wanted to have a look and there weren't too many of those! I would have been lucky to have had 100 people walk past in total over the whole weekend. But you live and learn and at least I got to see the showjumping, which was fantastic.

This means that all my work at my bench last week basically went unseen, however it holds me in good stead for two little shows I have coming up in the next month. Maybe I will take it a little easier as the children start their term break tomorrow and life is no doubt going to be busy as each of them vie for my attention. It will be time to change my name from "mum" by the end of the break I'm sure!

On the farm, the 70+ heifers are due to start calving this weekend so no doubt hubby will be in a grumpy mood for the next six weeks LOL. This doesn't always relate to problems the heifers may have, but just the general tiredness that comes from frequently checking out cow's rear ends. After six weeks it really takes it toll and hubby is due for a holiday!

I have also been doing lots of baking recently - I stumbled upon a cute little blog on 'sweet treats' (that I've since lost!) and wrote down their recipe (handed down from the blogger's grandma) for oatmeal cookies. I made them this week and the children are consuming them gusto. A neighbour's banana muffin recipe also got the thumbs up and our favourite apricot and choc chip biscuits were happily monopolised by the boys of the house. I just saw a great looking recipe on Your Cheeky Monkey for a muesli slice too which looks pretty yummy. Maybe that will be the next one I have to try out!

Well on that note, I think I will grab my book and head out into the winter sunshine. Ooops - almost forgot - the piece at the top is a bit scrumptious too - a necklace of black spinel and Kingman green turquoise faceted nuggets with silver.

Till next :)
Annette

Pre-show frenzy, the piano arrives and a pretty paua bracelet

I'm in full headless chook mode (aka running around trying to be productive but not really making it!) as I try and get ready for a three day show this weekend.

Out of character, I have committed to an outdoor event, it's currently cold and wintry and the thought of leaving my tent up for three days in possibly gale-force winds is not comforting. If you have any hints or tips on outdoor events, particularly in reference to tents and keeping them down, please comment NOW! All will be very gratefully received!!

The battle with the elements is one of the reasons I prefer indoor shows. However, I was asked by a client to bring my jewels to this event (it's the Gunnedah Showjumping Festival) and how could I say no when she told me others like her would be there!

Although only a few years old it's already a fairly big event in the Australian showjumping circuit with over 200 competitors booked. Add on their support crews / families / friends and of course other people just coming for a look and you can see its not a small get together. When the ladies are tired of the horses and associated products they can come and refresh themselves with looking at some pretties! So, fingers crossed it is successful for me as well as the festival itself and the wind and rain stays AWAY for the duration of the show!

As you know, the search for the perfect piano (well, as perfect as it could be within financial limitations!) was pretty consuming for a couple of weeks. It all culminated in it's delivery on Saturday afternoon and we celebrated by having the piano teacher and her family over for lunch so she could check it out and hopefully tell us we did OK. (We did! *phew*)

There was much excitement as they brought in the pedals, then the legs, then the lid and finally wheeled in the piano.



Hubby had taken the railing down off the verandah and their truck had a ramp that could be raised or lowered to various heights so it rolled out with hardly a worry (well a small delay as it inched forward as it only just fit between the ramp and the roof of the truck).



They put it together in minutes, moved it slightly to the desired spot and it was all done! Ahh, the joy of professionals!



The children drew straws as to who would get to play to first and they were followed by the teacher :) Here is Langdon trying it out:



And here is the teacher, Telly. She is really the one who deserves a grand piano rather than our children in their current stage of musical ability, but hopefully having a good instrument will spur them on to greater achievements! If you want to see a very short video of Telly playing it, you can see it on my facebook page. (20 seconds of her playing Ballade Pour Adeline). Her fingers just FLY!



Needless to say the children have been fighting over who gets to practice on it first. If its not one thing, its another....

Before I go back into my frenzied mode in getting ready for the weekend, at the top is a photo of a bracelet I made yesterday (before the headless chook mode struck and post piano excitement) with sterling silver, paua shell and freshwater cultured pearls in blue, green and purple to reflect the glorious colours in the shell.

Cheers!
Annette :)

Rose Quartz and a bit more about Creativity

I had another brilliant day last weekend at the Scone Grammar School annual fete - lots of stallholders this time and a real market feel to the whole event. People kept milling about and there was a real reluctance for people to go home! I caught up with lots of clients, some ex-Coolah residents and sold lots of jewels. It's wonderful to watch people see "the" one piece of jewellery for them. (Of course, I have a couple of clients who find "the" one, each time they look LOL. Addicted to beautiful stones - what a way to be!)

I've had a few questions recently about specific stones and realised I haven't really written about the stones themselves for a while. So this week I thought I'd do a run down on rose quartz since I use it quite a bit in my designs.

Rose quartz, a member of the quartz family, is found abundantly in Brazil, Madagascar, India, Mozambique, Namibia, Sri Lanka, the USA and in smaller quantities elsewhere in the world. Of course, the grade of rose quartz varies considerably and it is often crackled and usually turbid rather than transparent. Some higher quality rose quartz is softly glowing pink and rather than completely clear it is often as if it's just a bit misty. With a hardness of 7 it is a sturdy stone although care should be taken to avoid hard knocks or impacts as these can cause conchoidal fractures - which will look like 'chips' to the naked eye.

Rose quartz is named after its pink colour and this colour is thought to come from titanium. Although its crystal structure is trigonal, it is usually found in a massive form (so found in chunks rather than crystals).

A popular stone, its use in jewellery goes back to 7000BC in Mesopotamia where it has been found in the form of beads. The Assyrians used it during 800-600BC and the Romans used it for seals.

Many cultures believed in its metaphysical properties, notably for love and matters of the heart. Egyptians believed it prevented aging (quick, give me some!). It is still used by crystal healers in a variety of ways, predominately to restore calmness, balance and clarity to the emotions.

All in all a pretty stone with nice connotations!

On to other things, the topic of creativity has featured prominently around here lately. I worked with the local preschool on a mother's day project where the children could make a bracelet for their mum. I took in a vast array of beads and my not-good-enough-to-use-in-my-jewellery gems and pearls, some memory wire (it springs back into shape) and my pliers. Over the course of a week, the children strung their selections onto the wire which I then made into bracelets. The results were incredible. There was the occasional mish-mash and the occasional child that obviously wasn't really interested, but most of the bracelets were amazing. There were some real stars too in the colour combination category! The feedback from the mothers has been overwhelming - the preschool teacher even called me last night to tell me how thrilled the mums were.

Is this creativity innate or do you think it's inspired by things they see or their play? Do you think it fades as we grow older or it just needs topping up?

I saw a great post on the Heart On My Sleeve blog about a couple of university graduates being so inspired by the often colourful washing hanging on lines that they took photos of clothes lines in over 22 countries! Some of the pics ARE inspiring too, particularly with the varying backdrops. And if creative play inspires, then I think the cute little knitted finger puppets at Your Cheeky Monkey would be just the thing to get the children in the mood.

Given the run down on rose quartz, today's photo is of a rose quartz and freshwater pearls sterling charm bracelet. Very feminine and very spring inspired (even though we're going into winter - like I said, the muse takes me where she will, regardless of what's going on around me! *sigh*)

Till next :)
Annette

Blink ... and another week is gone

Gosh the weeks are just blurring together. I always seem to be out and about during the week and before I blink the week has gone with not much to show for it! It seems to be a bit that way though - a frantic week with lots getting made and done and then a week that just whizzes past that I don't even get to my 'urgent & important' list! Maybe that means that next week will be an achieving week??? For some reason I don't think so...

Thanks for the many commiserating comments last week on the state of my weedy garden - it's good to know I'm not alone! The weather has cooled down dramatically this week (a good temperature for weeding - not that I've done any more!) and I've started dropping hints to hubby about 'firewood'. He hasn't taken me up on the hint though. Ah well, it will get cold enough eventually that he won't be able to ignore it anymore.

I played farmer again this week, fortunately only for a morning. Luck wasn't on my side though and my ignorance played against me - I ran out of fuel just after moving the stock. I pushed the bike about a km to the nearest cross-track and then walked the remaining couple of km home. Lesson learned. I'll check the fuel tank next time!

I was reading a post today at Dana's about vintage items and a woman returning a 1960s purse that she was unhappy with as it wasn't 'new'. Poor Dana feels sick about a customer not being happy, and I can certainly sympathise with that - we all want our customers to be thrilled. But I would imagine it's a little hard to find 'new' and 'vintage' unless you come across a warehouse of untouched stock?

I've not really dealt with vintage before - unless it is a restoration job on someone's favourite old jewels, which probably doesn't count! There seems to be a fair population that do though. Do you buy vintage? If you do, I'd be interested to hear what your thoughts on vintage - both the positives and the pitfalls - are.

My extra good news this week is that the Mega Mums Giveaway was drawn and one of my entrants won it! Jenny from Mendooran is the lucky recipient and is still stunned by her win. Her husband thinks she's never won anything before except an argument with him, so it sounds like it is well deserved!

Next weekend I am off to the Scone Grammar School's annual Fete. I have attended the last two years and last year already had some 'regulars', so I'm looking forward to catching up with them again. They have changed the set up this year with lots of outside vendors so it should be a fun market-like atmosphere. If you're in the vicinity, drop by to the school on Saturday between 10am and 3pm.

Today's photo is of a handmade chain of sterling silver, dusky rose rhodonite nuggets, chocolate jasper ovals, big rectangles of rose quartz and huge white freshwater pearls. It's a long necklace with chain at the back but as you can see is easily doubled to a chunkier shorter style.

Till next :)
Annette

My gardening wall of shame!

Another week flies by and lots of average excuses for posting this late! I won't bore you with them all though ;)

Hubby and son returned from their Boy's Own Adventure, crossing the continent and back, covering 3500 miles and with thoroughly sore rear ends LOL. I survived being Farmer Piper again (apart from a seriously trying morning moving cattle with two 9 year old girls helping - I'll leave that to your imagination!) - luckily the split water pipe didn't appear until the morning after hubby's return as that's really something that I couldn't have fixed!

I started the mammoth job of weeding my rose garden last weekend. And if you wonder why, after a week I've only weeded half of it, I will now post a photo on my 'wall of shame'! I need a lot of coercion to get into the garden at the best of times so I ignore it all through summer, apart from watering if required. Well this year we have been blessed with regular rain, so I haven't even had to do that. This is the consequence though.



Yep, that's a tangle of weeds folks, and in the centre of this photo is supposed to be a path - you can see it at the top of the photo, in the half that's weeded. No, it's NOT a pretty sight. My keen-gardener-mother-in-law has to force herself NOT to look when she visits as she is totally appalled. Amongst some very spiky rose bushes there is a mixture of 'paddy melon'-like vines, kikuyu and rye grasses, lucerne, a variety of burrs and thistles and the odd nasty patch of 'sticky-beaks' that are even taller than the roses!

It's taken quite a bit of persistence on my part to get as far as I have. If you had been watching me I'm sure you would have opened your eyes just a tad wider at my numerous vocalisations, which basically centered around the word 'OUCH' and the odd, colourful adjective. Luckily roses are hardy and some lovely blooms are still coming forth in what will be probably their last flush before the cold weather closes in. This is a David Austin double pink with a terrible, rangy habit, but gorgeous scented flowers.



I'm feeling a little floral at the moment ... the roses in the garden, photos of spring blooms at every turn on the web and my girls have been making paper flowers which currently have pride of place in a vase on my dining table.

Have you ever made flowers with some sort of medium? I've made some floral designs with gems in the past and I saw today that Phersmay had posted a photo of some organza flowers that she has made to attach to headbands, brooches and hairpins.

Totally NOT floral, however, today's jewellery piece is a wonderful long, long (did I mention it was long!?) strand of lustrous peacock freshwater pearls in semi-baroque, stick and coin shapes. It's so long it makes a decent length 2 strand necklace or a brilliant shorter length 3 strand. I've added in a sprinkling of amethyst, iolite and tanzanite gemstones to enhance that purple-blue hue that I love so much, and a gorgeous starfish sterling clasp. Do you like it?

Till next
Annette :)

MIA from the blogging world

I've been MIA (missing in action) from the blogging world again! You would think given hubby's return and my release from farming duties I'd be back in the swing of things. Far from it though.

Hubby has been busy with rock picking, cutting hay and now sowing and I feel like I've not quite got away from the paddock - even if it's just keeping him company. As well, there have been further incidents of farming jobs that involved me - such as the whole family going rock picking for a day last weekend. The kids coped remarkably well with manual labour - maybe they're not as soft as I thought!

Perhaps I need to have a guest blogger on hand to keep everyone entertained in such absences. Have you ever had a guest blogger on your blog? Or perhaps you've been one? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

I've seen guest bloggers occasionally but haven't really taken much notice. Then two blogs I check in on regularly have been talking about them. Your Cheeky Monkey had a guest blogger to talk about photographing children. As Monique's blog is connected to her business which caters to a lot of children products this is perfect! The other blog was the Business Mums Blog that was talking about the pros for both the blog and the guest blogger. Food for thought for when we're too caught up with other things?

Naturally, with everything else keeping me busy, not much has happened on the jewellery front. I've been busy with orders and remodelling jobs so I've only had time for a couple of new pieces. The necklace pictured above is one of the new ones - lava, freshwater 'stick' pearls in a natural pink / lavender tint and sterling silver. (I must apologise for the bluish tint in the photo - the light was a little past optimum.)

I have visitors arriving from the US this Friday for a short stay and in my mad dash around the house in cleaning mode, I tidied up my bench....so that's ruined any creativity until I can mess it up again. LOL.

Till next
Annette :)

What the stars wore to the People's Choice Awards

A new calendar year means the Awards season has started again and lots of opportunity to see the gals in the spotlight glammed up - to check out their fashion and their jewels!

This week was the People's Choice Awards held in Los Angeles.

Fashion: Solid colour dresses in either bold brights, black or white were the in the clear majority. Styles fell into two main categories - long or short with very few in between. Both were fitted, the longer styles featuring more draping. But it almost became repititious - oooh, there's another strapless dress - and another one shoulder gown. And another strapless and another one shoulder... Obviously strapless or one shoulder gowns were the flavour of the day!

Jewellery was pretty low key overall. Some chose beaded embellishments on their gowns instead of a necklace - in fact necklaces were noticeably absent. Two necklaces that did jump out though were 1) Demi Lovato with a large, draped, diamond and gold detailed piece that almost looked like a lace cut out from a distance and 2) Sofia Vergara whose large gold and silvery-grey pebble style necklace certainly grabbed the eye.

Earrings of course were abundant as they have been for a few years. Big, long or chandelier style, mostly in white gold/platinum and lots of sparkly diamonds. Of note, Taylor Swift wore long drop snowflakes, Mary J. Blige showed off white and brown diamond long geometric drops, and hostess Queen Latifah wore a pair of rose cut diamond silver and gold earrings and then after a costume change appeared in round diamond and platinum drop earrings which were a blingy 20 carats each!

Bracelets were mostly cuffs or bangles. Gold was more noticeable in this department but diamonds were more in evidence - from simple diamond bracelets to diamond mesh cuffs. Multiple bracelets were also worn by some - Mariah Carey and Jessica Alba happily layered them. There were also a few big cocktail rings - Taraji P Henson's gemstone ring was huge!

Oh, and the men looked just fine too ;)

Today's pic - well, just because the stars didn't wear a necklace last night doesn't mean I wouldn't! Perhaps I'd wear something like this since I just love sky blue topaz.

Till next :)
Annette

Working up to spring and summer brights

I'm feeling all summery. I think the weekend of glorious weather - bright, sunny and mild - after some very cold, grey days. Plus the fact that I managed to spend a good proportion of that spring-like weather outside in the rose garden (weeding - yuk! and pruning - ouch!) may have had an effect. Now that I've recovered from the sore back from bending over and the stiff hands from gripping weeds, of course! A good dose of Vitamin D perhaps?

I'm currently finding myself being drawn to all things bright and cheery - like this gorgeous clutch by TiLT Creations and these pretty earrings by Kandi-o Designs and even this swimsuit that Brittany featured on her blog.

To match my mood, I've pictured some earrings made with natural apple green turquoise with fat white freshwater pearls. A fresh, bright mix, perfect for spring/summer!

I'm ordering new stones for summer designs at the moment and of course I'm being drawn to lime green (variscite, green turquoise, peridot), Aegean blue (Peruvian amazonite, Peruvian blue opal, turquoise, larimar, aquamarine) and some coral pinks too .... I love how colour can affect your mood and outlook.

I'm not the only one loving brights - in the latest jewellery news, I've heard that a very rare 5 carat vivid pink diamond is due to go on sale with Christies Hong Kong office in December and they expect it to reach a "stratospheric" price! Ahh to have that sort of cash lying about. Vivid pink is pretty hard to get in natural gems and the colour of this particular beauty is stunning.

Down on the farm, the heifers are almost finished calving and weeks of checking them three times a day is thankfully going to stop! The calves are terribly cute though :).

Of course, after calving we start thinking of our annual holiday. Yes, I know we've only just had term break, but hey, we can dream! I found a great post on the Tilda Virtual Services blog about surviving the school holidays - darn it, should have read it a month ago ;)

I guess I should get busy and before I know it spring will be here :) Have a great week everyone!

Some housekeeping

I've realised I've some blog housekeeping to do that I never seem to get around to in my weekly post - so here's a special post just for those chores ;)

Firstly, thank you to Jennifer of It's A Beauty Filled Life for the Kreativ Blogger Award *mwah* [air kiss ;) ]



Rules for this award:
• Thank the person who nominated you for the award
• Copy the logo and place it on your blog
• Link to the person who nominated you for this award
• List seven things about yourself that people might find interesting
• Nominate and post links to the seven Kreativ Bloggers you nominate
• Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated

OK, seven things you might find interesting (that I haven't mentioned before ... geez its getting hard, you know me so well already!)....

1) I really love amber. It looks awful against my skin (totally the wrong colour for yellow) but that doesn't matter, I love it anyway. In fact, I covet it so much I'm getting a rather large quantity of it because I can't resist it!!! This is starting to cause me some concern LOL. But what the heck ;)

2) I was brought up on diet of show tunes and soft jazz throughout my pre-teens - teenage years.

3) The reason for this is my step mother had been a ballet dancer turned high-speed aerial dancer and singer in nightclubs in the 60s-70s.

4) I spent approximately 8 months travelling around Europe as a pre-teen.

5) When in Morocco we ventured into the medina of one of the cities and by dusk were quite lost in streets becoming increasingly narrow with rather scary looking chaps wearing scitmars standing in doorways!

6) Also when in Morocco my father was offered a camel and assorted other animals for me as a bride to a rather scrawny young man. Luckily my father said no - even though he said in my later teens that he should have taken the offer!

7) I could smell out a patisserie at approximately a kilometre distance when in France! Yum!!

Now, I’d like to nominate these seven blogs:

1. Glitterfelt Felt Stories
2. Piper & Lily
3. Handmade Kids
4. Inspired by Children
5. SquiggleMum
6. Mama Loves to Shop
7. Heavenly Handmades

Next, thank you to Momma Such of Raising My 4 Sons for the One Lovely Blog Award.



I hope she will forgive me for this link to my last 15 newly discovered blogs instead of listing new ones - I haven't had time to find another 15 just yet!

And lastly, I want to share some love - specifically with the following blogs from Bloggin Moms for Technorati Authority on the Mom Bloggers Club :)

http://www.dominiquegoh.com
http://www.golfersmom.blogspot.com
http://jeanstockdale.typepad.com
http://momcooks.net
http://brainfoggles.com
http://conniesview.com
http://mychroniclife.com
http://mickeyfanatic.com
http://table4five.net
http://mainfo.blogspot.com/
http://www.atticgirl.blogspot.com
http://artsnark.blogspot.com
http://table4five.net
http://momreviews.net
http://momcooks.net
http://www.myleahrose.com/blog/
http://www.ageorgiaangel.com/blog/
http://www.whenwelisten.blogspot.com
http://poshmomdiary.com/
http://www.hereallalong.blogspot.com
http://www.anutinanutshell.com
http://www.thetamom.com/
http://childhood101.blogspot.com/
http://lusciousdeals.blogspot.com
http://www.amymusings.com
http://iamharriet.blogspot.com
http://sitedandblogged.com
http://thecontesthub.com
http://mommynotguilty.blogspot.com
http://ahensnest.blogspot.com/
http://www.ashbarnett.blogspot.com
http://www.thedivinemissmommy.com
http://www.crazysuburbanmom.com/
http://mommynotguilty.blogspot.com


Back to normal programming now :D

Ooops, forgot to say, the pic at the top is a pendant of serpentine and sterling silver - I love the unusual shape of this stone with its attractive patterns of black and silvery-grey on the green background. On a shorter length sterling cable chain. Quite eye catching :)

Cheers!
Annette

Winter mistaken for spring - but not for long!

I did it, I did it! I spent two whole days in the most disorganised room in the house (see post last week) and it is now pristine! I threw A LOT of stuff out, re-organised and moved things around and I feel so much lighter in myself!

Hubby is really pleased as he finally has his table back in his possession and although he hasn't finished re-organising that little area it is well on its way.

Of course, the rest of the house is suffering somewhat in comparison now...but I think I'll attack that another day.

The weather has turned very icy here - although the skies are a vivid blue and the grass is green due to rain we've had over the last month. So it is easy to lull yourself into a sense of spring from the warmth inside the house - until you go outside of course! Then you feel the wintry bite and retreat inside very quickly.

The springlike looking weather has inspired me to work with a burst of soft, pretty colours so I thought I would share these delicately coloured earrings that are of new jade (serpentine), freshwater pearl and rose quartz.

I found a great group - Unique Women in Business at the by Earth Expressions blog. I love the idea behind this group - it's fantastic to see women banding together to help each other towards success!

Recently, I received the same award from two fellow bloggers - Miriam from Angelshair and Terry from Magicalbeadstalk gave me this:



The rules of the award are:
Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award."

So here are my 15 newly discovered 'lovely' blogs!
thirtysomethingLand
Theta Mom
Mommy Words
5 kids, 2 labs, 1 lizard and a hermit crab
Piece of Cake Decorating
I'm Still Standing
Shabby Chicks
Paris Couture Antiques
My Insanity
Inca Kids, Fair Trade & Sustainable Living
Keeper of the Cheerios
Click Here
The Crazy Suburban Mom
Sweet Serendipity
Witchetty Art

Gosh, that's a list and half!

Cheers for now,
Annette

Quirindi last week, Merriwa this week...

I feel a bit like that old saying about tours "if it's Tuesday it must be Rome" LOL. Although I'm not quite going to such exotic locales, doing two, two-day shows a week apart is surprisingly tiring - I keep feeling like I've forgotten something and my to-do list never seems to finish!

Last weekend was Quirindi and I had such a wonderfully warm welcome from the organisers and lots of ladies I met on my recent appearance there in July. I was tickled pink when one woman told me that she saw the advert for the Quirindi Show - it mentioned 'jewellery' and she had hoped it would be me! :) There were only a few other exhibitors selling items that were non-sideshow alley and they were lovely, friendly people.

Lots of beautiful pieces (a lot of them new, including the piece featured in my last blog post)have found new homes where I am sure they will be loved!

This weekend I have Merriwa Show and get to see all my lovely clients from that district and maybe some new faces too. This is the 100th anniversary of the Merriwa Show so it promises to be a big weekend. I hope the weather holds out! Once again I will be located in the Fairfax Pavillion so come and say hello if you're at the show.

I am very behind on my blog reading however I was doing a scan of the Small Business Diva's blog and found a wonderful quote I would like to share: “Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous - not just to some people in some circumstances - but to everyone all the time.” Thomas J. Watson, 1874-1956, Founder of IBM. Something we can all aspire to.

I must also say thank you to Elaine from Commotion from the Ocean of Life blog for her award (received while I was on holidays thus my tardy response!). This blog is a great read and one that I love to catch up on. Thank you!!!



The rules of this award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

So, in the interest of sharing the love downunder, I've picked some Aussie blog favourites:

1. Tickiboo
2. Ickle Kids
3. La Toriana
4. My Day Off
5. Marnie B
6. Small Business Diva
7. Australian Women Online

Ooops, almost forgot today's jewellery picture! This is a beautiful banded agate and freshwater pearl bracelet that tinkles as it moves. I've used Argentinium sterling silver to help prevent tarnishing and keep the silver wonderfully shiny. A timeless combination of black and white means this one will be worn for many years to come!

Till next :)

A productive week

I have had FUN the last week - lots of lovely new pieces made with such varying stones as sodalite, bronzite, carnelian, brown zebra jasper (looks just like a chocolate milkshake LOL ... really, it DOES!!), pyrite, glaucophane, rough and super smooth rock crystal quartz, chrysocolla, amber and sunstone.... Yep, pretty happy with my productivity this week :D

I finally got around to sending a newsletter out to clients too - I am so slack in that department! For some reason I think they are following my blog, but I am sure most of them don't even know it exists!! I have already received some contact from people who have received the newsletter, so it was definitely worthwhile. I need to get over the feeling that I should leave people alone - I know I need to be reminded to have a look at my favourite sites occasionally, so I'm sure others are in the same position and perhaps even welcome my contact!

I have subscribed to the RSS feeds on a lot of my favourite sites and blogs - it makes it so easy to keep up to date with them. (Both this blog and my website have the option either on the page or via the IE toolbar to subscribe to updated content through the RSS feed). My favourite shopping referral site is My New Shiny Shoes. I check my RSS feed for this store at least every second day and Michelle always has something worth looking at and investigating. She also has a free service that will help you find you that evasive, long searched for item, in an online store. As I live fairly remote from shops, I have requested and received help two times (and I have just sent off another request as well)! She seems to know HOW to find things - whereas I just seem to spend hours and hours searching and all to no avail!

I haven't taken pictures of all my new items yet, but above is a bracelet I made a couple of weeks ago, whilst in a very purple mood! Made with amethyst discs that have been linked together to form a handmade chain with argentinium sterling silver (fantastic material - it's tarnish resistant!), then adorned with little charms of purple freshwater pearls (also on argentinium). The easy to do up/remove toggle clasp is sterling silver.

OK, back to the bench for me.....have a great day!